Newtonium - Physics Simulator

Teacher Overview

The Newtonium - Physics Simulator app is a unique app for solving physics problems. The application calculates forces exerted on a body and simulates the resulting motion in two dimensions, with three degrees of freedom.

You can set physical properties such as mass, velocity, size, position and many more. Running a simulation will see the forces in action where you can specify conditions and change the models variables. The app is suitable for ages 15 and above and comes with no in-app purchases or adverts.

Teacher Review

Upon opening the application, the user is shown a splash screen that could be displayed for a little longer. We did notice that some of the graphics here were slightly stretched however, the app shows a clean and easy to read home page. The menus offered on the left hand side are new scene, edit scene, templates, help and a chat feature. Displayed on the right is to pre-loaded scenes ISS and Newton’s Cradle, these are both a great starting point.

On pressing the new scene button the user enters the design page. Here the menus at the top are difficult to decipher at first. The menus include; a sharing function, delete, a calculator, environment options, play the scene and the forces options. The developers can be commended on the depth of the app here and the options available for modelling.

The app may benefit from the menus being a drop down system where they can be retracted. A transparency in the menus may also be considered here so on a small device the user can see the results in the background.

The Environment menu has a number of detailed features such as gravity, friction, collisions, rotations, time interval, objects that cab drawn, model and further friction options. To a user who is familiar with the properties of physics thus will seem fairly straight forward. However, we did find the app very complicated and the menu system a little cumbersome. The developers could consider and information button for further instructions or some in-app overlays.

The Forces option allows the user to apply forces with force, direction and acceleration. Once again here the options are fantastic with the user being able to model gravity, springs, struts, pulleys and much more. There are also options here for final conditions and properties.

Once returning to the home page the users can explore the templates. These include mass on a spring, pendulums, pulley and incline. All of these can be edited. We really liked the multiple options within the app and the realistic modelling of the forces.

The help section of the app provides feedback on general questions, physical constraints, an introduction and more. Here you can also rate the app and contact the developer.

The chat section of the app is a good idea and the user can search for questions by category or response date.

Overall the application has many users and multiple options. However, there needs to be some further consideration to the layout and how the user interacts with the navigation menus and options. We felt that the app was at times over complicated in its layout and the screen became very cluttered. The Newtonium - Physics Simulator app is a good app for those with areal knowledge of physics and forces and with a few minor tweaks could appeal to a wider user audience.

Safeguarding

Screenshots

Developer Description

Newtonium is a powerful tool to solve physics problems. For those of you, who are having difficulties understanding and solving classical mechanics problems, this app is a huge help.It will calculate all forces exerted on a body and simulate the resulting motion in two dimensions, with three degrees of freedom.

Use objects, structures and tools to build your model. You can set physical properties, like mass, velocity, size, position and many more. The app will calculate and show you all the forces on each object. To see the forces in action, just run the simulation. Even during the simulation all forces can be shown and all properties will be updated. You can specify final conditions, to stop the simulation automatically, when these conditions are met.

From the very small like the motion of particles to the very big like the moon going around the earth, if you can draw the model, Newtonium can calculate the forces.

Features:
- create, load and save your models
- change gravitation, friction, resistance or behavior during collisions
- specify real world physical properties of all objects
- use tools like springs, struts, and pulleys
- units are converted automatically
- set initial and final conditions
- forces and velocities are displayed as arrows for each object
- forces are described in detail
- use the simulator to animate your model
- display diagrams for objects in motion
- verify conservation of energy or momentum